What is LinkedIn’s Policy on LIONs?

With all of these LIONs (LinkedIn Open Networker) that are openly accepting invites as well as inviting people that they don’t know, you have to wonder as to what LinkedIn’s policy is on the matter.  After all, this goes against the entire premise of LinkedIn that you only connect with people that you know and trust.  And this is why there is an “I Don’t Know” response should you decide not to accept an invite from someone that you don’t know.

The problem in LinkedIn’s eyes concerning LIONs is their potential to spam people because of the enormous numbers of connections they sometimes have.  The move to prevent LinkedIn Group managers from exporting the email addresses of their group members was a step in this direction of trying to limit spam.  To distance itself from the bad image of LIONs and their relation to spam, the original LION group has taken the extraordinary step of creating a LION LIONs Against SPAM! LinkedIn Group.  

I personally see no connection between an “Open Networker” and someone who spams.  The problem is that some people take on the “LION” brand in order to amass lots of email addresses with the intent of spamming people.  I don’t think that this happens often, but even if thse people comprise 1% of the LION population, it is enough spam to be noticeable and give LIONs a bad rap.

It was a pleasant surprise, then, when I recently ran across a video interview of LinkedIn’s CEO Reid Hoffman discussing his view on LIONs, as I think this is the first public statement that someone from LinkedIn has made on the open networking movement (correct me if I am wrong).  You can see the original video here, but in essence Reid said:

“…generally speaking we allow people to try to do things that they can as individuals, but it’s really important to be based on connections of trust and respect to people you do know.  So…if two people are LIONs and those LIONs want to connect, individual freedom, but spamming people who are not so interested we’re not very happy with.”

So, there you have it.  LinkedIn does allow LIONs to flourish as part of a commitment to individual freedom, but will take a hard line on spamming.  I still think, looking at Reid’s words, that he unfortunately is still equating LIONs with spam, but if more LIONs actually start reporting spam to LinkedIn (which is the intent of the new LION group against spam), LIONs could start being seen as a group of people who want to contribute to the LinkedIn community.  LinkedIn recently set up and email address to report these abuses, so if you personally experience any, feel free to send them to abuse@linkedin.com